Douglas Baulos "Urban Wild" installation detail

Member Spotlight: Angela Dale

This March brings us two Premium SDA Member spotlights! First up is Angela Dale, a Calgary-based designer, who makes amazing garments from a wide array of materials. She has a Certificate in Costume Studies from Dalhousie University, a BFA in Fine Arts from NSCAD University, and an MFA in Design and Technical Theatre from the University of Calgary.


I create to satisfy my curiosity and expand my artistic endeavours. I like to challenge myself and how I work. Discovering new techniques and ways of thinking are essential to my growth as an artist, designer and creator. My wearable art has evolved from my work as a costume designer and builder in professional theatre, dance and film. I am interested in exploring the fantastical, whimsical and otherworldly using the human body as my canvas. Transformation and augmentation of the human form with padding, corseting, framework and the manipulation of soft materials through pleating, folding, stiffening and layering to create three dimensionality and sculptural elements are common themes in my work.

Angela Dale Medusa Fabulosa 2014, Photo: Jeff MacDonald.

The use of materials in a contradictory manner where they can appear to be something they are not intrigues me. I used this idea when I created a series of stylized period wigs out of a variety of fabrics for a production of the period play “Turcaret”. What was initially an answer to budget constraints led to wigs that were far more successful in terms of expressing character than actual wigs would have been.

Angela Dale Rococo Glo 2016. Photo: Kelly Hofer.

I work a lot with dancers and the relationship of a body in motion to a garment’s kinetic potential is something that I am constantly looking to capitalize on. The choice of material, cut and drape can either accentuate or hinder a bodies movement and I am always interested in the performative aspects of this. I will make choices according to the message I am trying to convey.

Angela Dale Ashes for Beauty 2017. Photo: Tim Nguyen, Citrus Photography.

Using LED’s and technology in my work has become an obsession with me. I am fascinated by the ways in which textiles and reflective surfaces can be used to play with light. Using sensors to show things like heartbeat or react to motion or sound expands the possibilities even more. I have also been implementing the use of digitally cut and printed materials in my work. I see technology as a tool to expand my potential as an artist and creator. It has allowed me to create things that I never would have dreamed possible in the past.

Angela Dale Galaxia 2018. Photo: Juan Rivera.

Last year I went on a new adventure and created a piece for a fashion show to raise awareness around ocean plastics. I used a number of different plastic materials that had been found on beaches around the west coast to create wearable artwork celebrating the beauty of our oceans. This project had me questioning the amount of waste we produce as a society, how we can live more sustainably, and how artists and designers can use more reclaimed and repurposed materials in their work. I hope to continue my investigation with this in future works.

Angela Dale Future Oceans 2019. Photo: Kelly Hofer.

Angela Dale Future Oceans (detail) 2019. Photo: Kelly Hofer.

Ultimately I aspire to create pieces that intrigue and evoke a sense of delight, wonder and enchantment in the viewer, essentially to make magic with fabric!

Angela Dale 


Are you a Premium Member and interested in being in an upcoming monthly spotlight? Email Lauren Sinner to share your artist statement and images! (Subject email

2 Comments

  • Linda Carlson says

    March 15, 2020 at 8:59 pm

    Would so appreciate some detail in the captions for Angela Dale's photos, especially info on the content of the gowns. She mentions plastic waste in the oceans but does not specify what such materials are used (for example, in the beach photo).

  • Angela Dale says

    August 24, 2020 at 9:14 am

    Regarding content of the Future Oceans gown - Recycled ocean plastics - I used plastic netting, plastic bottles cut into strips and melted, deconstructed plastic ropes in various colours and sizes, deconstructed plastic tarp, fish net. I also incorporated fibre optics and LED's with micro controllers, some fish leather, metallic lame, organza, metal hooping and crinoline for gown support as well as metal boning, plastic boning and satin in corset bodice

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